Missouri Supreme Court, in 2007, ruled use of such evidence unconstitutional

1:22 AM,
Feb. 17, 2013

Darrell Moore

Written by

Jonathan Shorman
JSHORMAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Prosecutors want the ability to bring up evidence of past wrongdoing in child sexual abuse cases, regardless of whether charges were ever brought.

At a House committee hearing Thursday, one legislator said he wants to change the Missouri Constitution to allow "propensity evidence."

Darrell Moore, former Greene County prosecuting attorney, told the News-Leader that in sex crimes this type of evidence includes information that shows how a predator has carried out abuse in the past, such as locations, manner of abuse or preferred victim age. He said predators tend to have repetitive ...